Safe.



No. 793,546, PATENTED JUNE 27, 1905.

T. SGOTT.

SAFE.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.13,1904.

@gununmm www I Patented June 27, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE SCOTT, OF MONTIOELLO, INDIANA.

SAFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 793,546, dated June 27, 1905.

Application filed October 13, 1904.V Serial No. 228,366.

T all whowt it rma/y concern:

Bc it known that I, TH EoDoRE Soo'rT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Monticello, in the county of White and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Disappearing Safes, of which the fol- Y lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to disappearing or underground safes-that is, safes in which the entrance thereto is arranged first within a vault and from thence the safes are lowered in the ground and there secured against undue and wrongful'access.

It is the object of the present invention to provide certain improvements in the safe itself, in the safe in combination with its immediate cover, and in the safe and its vault or cover and other parts coacting therewith, all to the end that it may be rendered perfectly burglar-proof as well as proof against fire, &c.

The invention consists in certain improvements, which will fully appear from the following description, taken in view of the annexed drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Of the said drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the safe and a portion of its immediately-surrounding casing or vault, the safe being represented as lowered into the vault and locked therein. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view, on a smaller scale, of the casing or vault complete.

Similar symbols of reference indicate similar parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

In the drawings, 10 designates the safe proper and is made of chilled iron or steel or other suitable metal or material, and the body exteriorly is of cylindrical form. The lower portion of the vault may also be made of chilled metal or other material suited to its purpose, and the same may be said of the casing 12 above it.4 The casing may be of any depth desired, and the whole may be set in concrete or cement of any suitable kind and may extend to any distance or area around it.

One of the chief features of this invention is the exclusion of the use of explosives by burglars in the vault, and this should be kept in mind in the examination of the improvements. In making the safe of cylindrical form the work of raising and lowering it, as also of fitting it closely within the vault and carrying outsome other points of the invention, is greatly facilitated.

13 designates thecover to the safe proper, which cover is adapted to be securely fastened in place and is provided on its top with a flange 14, which rests on a flange 15 of the vault, a suitable packing 16 being interposed between the flange of the cover and that of the vault to make the connection tight against the passage of liquids, as is plainly shown in Fig. 1.

The lower portion of the safe 17, in which the most valuable portion of the contents is designed to be kept, as also the part 18, in which it is designed to locate the time-lock mechanism, is much heavier than the upper part, and this serves to draw the bottom down securely on its inclined seat 19, the part 19 being of frusto-conical form, as shown. These provisions alone are quite suiiicient to prevent nitroglycerin, powder, &c., from reaching the sides or bottom of the safe. underground safes known to me at this time there is little to prevent explosives being worked into the vault around and below the safe, and if explosives were used at this point they would be sure not only to wreck the safe, but they might even act to blow it out through the top of the vault.

As stated, when constructed in accordance with this invention the weight of the safe will operate to carry it down and hold it securely upon its seat, and when thus positioned two bolts 20, adapted to be withdrawn at a predetermined time by a time-lock mechanism, will be moved out by a spring or springs (not shown) under the safe vault or casing, and so hold the safe down against being raised to any In nearlyall i extent until said bolts are withdrawn by the A said time lock mechanism. (Not shown.) When it (the safe) is free and it is desired to raise it, a cable 25, secured at one end to the cover of the safe and at the other end to a windlass, may be operated by the latter means to lift the safe out of the vault.

The vault-covers 22 and their coacting means, which are applicable to any vault and are not IOO herein claimed, but form the subject-matter of a separate application for a patent filed of even date herewith, need not be described at this time, since they may be used in connection with my improved safe and its vault or not, as may be thought best.

A spring 23 may be yemployed in the vault or casing below the casing for the time-lock as a buier to obviate any jar or shock when the latter is being lowered into position.

It is to be noted that the means for locking the safe in the vault are in a contracted part 18 at its very bottom,which point is easily made the hardest for burglars to reach and which feature is made an r important part of the invention. Y

The bolts 20 are arranged `above the bottom of the vault and between the contracted portion for containing the time-lock mechanism and extreme bottom oifthey safe proper.

In another application for a patent led of even date herewith,`Serial No. 228,365, I have shown and described a disappearingfsafe in which the form of the safe-body, its-casing, andsome other parts are similar to said parts as herein shown, described, and claimed, and reference may be had thereto; 'but in the said other application I `have made noclaim to the form of the safe-bodyor its casing as lherein claimed.

-What is .claimed-isl. Adisappearing safe havingthe lower portion for containing valuables made of frustoconical form, andthe casing constituting a seat for said portion made of corresponding form, whereby the weight of the safe may tightly securel the safe atisaidI point `against ready introduction of explosives `belowthe bottom of thesafe.

2. A disappearing safe having the exterior of the upper part of its body-made cylindrical in form and the lower portion for containing valuables made of frusto-conical form, combined withra surrounding casing forming a for containing a time locking mechanism bev low it, and a casing made of a form to lit the Vsaid tapering-lower end, combined with movable bolts between the contracted portion and the bottom of thev safeadapted to engage the A-bottomof'the tapering part of. the casing.

` 5. A disappearing safe having its lower end made of tapering orl frusto-conical form and a contracted part for containing a time locking mechanism below the frusto-conical part, in combination with afcasing vmade of a form proper and means at the upperend of the safe for tightly securing or packing ,the `same in its casing.

4'6. A dlsappearmg safe havmg its lowerend made of tapering or frusto-conlcal form and ya contractedv part for containing a time locking mechanism below the frusto-conical part, in combinationwith a casing made of a form to fit the said tapering lower end of the safe proper, and laterally-movable bolts for locking the safe in the vault, said bolts being also disposed at the bottom of the safeI proper-and means-at the upper end of the safe for tightly securing or packing. the same in its casing.

In testimonyfwhereoil Ihave signed my name -to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THEODORE SCOTT. Witnesses:

ORE ELDRIDGE, EMoRY B. SELLERS.

to fit the said tapering lowerend of' the safe 

